Ebookery
Continued. The traditional Langford backlist release for May
was my hefty retrospective collection Different Kinds of Darkness,
with six stories added since the 2004 print edition. Click without
thinking: ae.ansible.uk/?t=dkod.
To vary the relentless hard sell I've also prepared some free
ebooks for download at taff.org.uk/ebooks.php.
These include four past TAFF trip reports – one of them my own
– a couple of old fan classics, and Rob Hansen's massive THEN:
A History of UK Fandom 1930-1980 (with supplements taking the story
to 1987).

Margaret
Atwood is the first of 100 contributors to 'Future Library'
(created by artist Katie Paterson), which will collect one unpublished
MS a year and print them all in 2114 to coincide with The Last
Dangerous Visions. Until then, fandom will be on tenterhooks as to
whether the Atwood story contains talking squid in outer space. (BBC,
26 May)

Simon
Pegg expressed cautious second thoughts about current
superhero film blockbusters: 'Obviously I'm very much a self-confessed
fan of science-fiction and genre cinema. But part of me looks at society
as it is now and thinks we've been infantilised by our own taste. We're
essentially all consuming very childish things – comic books,
superheroes. Adults are watching this stuff, and taking it seriously! /
It is a kind of dumbing down because it's taking our focus away from
real-world issues. Films used to be about challenging, emotional
journeys. Now we're really not thinking about anything, other than the
fact that the Hulk just had a fight with a robot.' (Independent,
18 May) [MPJ]

John
Scalzi's $3.4 million deal with Tor, for 13 books to be
written over ten years (Washington
Post, 28 May), caused much comment online. Various
puppy-aligned pundits – see
A334 –
indicated that this was a terrible calamity, signalling the imminent End
Times for both author and publisher; Vox Day deplored Scalzi's failure
to take the wiser course of self-publishing. Others, incredible though
it may seem, disagreed.

4 Jun  London First Thursday pub meeting upstairs at The
Castle, 34-35 Cowcross St, London, EC1M 6DB, from 6pm. Temporary move
during Melton Mowbray refurbishment: back to that pub in July. Its name
is being refurbished too, changing to the Inn of Court. [RR]

Rumblings.2015 Hugo Voting continues at
sasquan.org/hugo-awards/voting/
until 31 July. Your Sasquan membership number and PIN are required to
vote online; likewise to get the Hugo Voter Packet of nominated works at
sasquan.org/hugo-awards/packet_download/.
Coverage is incomplete, largely owing to publishers' preferences: for
example, Best Novel has the whole of The Dark Between the Stars,
The Goblin Emperor and The Three-Body Problem (all in
Epub, Mobi and PDF format), but PDF extracts only from Ancillary
Sword and Skin Game.

As
Others See Us. The
New
Statesman's Rachel Cooke was swift to spot the damning flaw in
the BBC's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: the acting may be
fine but it's 'aimed, it seems to me, at a generation brought up on
Harry Potter and still feebly in mourning for it. I mean, there are CGI
talking statues, for heaven's sake.' (21 May) Christopher Stevens at the
Daily
Mail was horrified that it 'is not Poldark. / There were no
damsels with heaving bosoms, for a start. In fact, almost the only
female under the age of 40 was lying on a couch, coughing herself to
death with consumption.' Which leads with inexorable geometric logic to:
'... this mishmash of folklore and historical fantasy is revealed for
what it really is – a J. K. Rowling rip-off.' (18 May) Oh dearie
me: Susanna Clarke began writing her novel several years Before Potter.

Science
Corner. Mere speculation, but just suppose: 'The only
method of transmutation known to modern science is by radiation
bombardment. The high-energy particles required are deadly to an
unshielded operator. Only by the wildest stretch of imagination is it
possible to suspect that some ancient alchemist found a natural
radioactive energy source by accident, that he used it for transmutation
and that he passed the secret to the Cathars (great healers who might
have attended the dying alchemist) ...' (Lionel and Patricia Fanthorpe,
The Holy Grail Revealed: The Real Secret of Rennes-le-Château,
1982) [BA]

R.I.P.Richard L. Bare (1913-2015) US director and screenwriter who
directed seven Twilight Zone segments including 'To Serve Man'
(1962), died on 28 March; he was 101. [AIP]
 William Bast (1931-2015), Edgar-winning US screenwriter
whose script credits include The Outer Limits (1964), The
Valley of Gwangi (1969), Ghost Story (1972 segment) and The
Big One: The Great Los Angeles Earthquake (1990), died on 4 May; he
was 84. [PDF]
 Marcia Brown (1918-2015), US Caldecott Medal-winning
children's author and illustrator whose picture books often retold fairy
tales as in Cinderella (1954), died on 28 April aged 96. [AIP]
 Moyra Caldecott (Olivia Brown Caldecott, 1927-2015),
South-African-born UK author of many children's and YA fantasies –
the best known being the sequence beginning with and named for The
Tall Stones (1977) – died on 23 May; she was 87. [MF]
 Yvonne 'Vonnie' Carts-Powell (1966-2015), US fan,
reviewer and science writer whose The Science of Heroes (2008)
examined the tv series Heroes, died on 22 May. [SFS]
 Joël Champetier (1957-2015), French-Canadian author
and editor (with Solaris magazine) whose first adult sf novel
was La taupe et le dragon (1991; trans 1999 as The Dragon's
Eye), died on 30 May aged 57. [GVG]
 Robert Foshko, US tv producer involved with episodes of
The Man from U.N.C.L.E., who wrote for the Flash Gordon
comic and the tv series Tales of Tomorrow (1951) and The
Unforeseen (1960), died on 3 May aged 85. [AL]
 Masayuki Imai (1961-2015), Japanese actor/writer who
wrote and starred in the timeslip film Winds of God (1995, based
on his own earlier stage play) – additionally directing its remake
The Winds of God: Kamikaze (2006) – died on 28 May aged
54. [PDF]
 Tanith Lee (1947-2015), distinguished and prolific UK
author of more than 100 fantasy, children's fantasy, horror and sf
novels and collections since 1971, died on 24 May; she was 67. Her
honours include the British Fantasy Award for Death's Master
(1979), and three life-achievement accolades: World Horror (2009), World
Fantasy (2013) and Bram Stoker (2015). Her talent was amazingly diverse.
Many heartfelt tributes have already appeared.
 Chuck Miller (1952-2015), US publisher, editor and
author best known for the small press Underwood-Miller Inc (1976-1994
with Tim Underwood) which published Jack Vance and the collected stories
of Philip K. Dick, died on 24 May aged 62. [PDF] He also coedited
various U-M anthologies of Stephen King criticism.
 Betsy Palmer (1926-2015), US actress who starred in
horror films including Friday the 13th (1980) and Bell Witch
(2007), died on 29 May aged 88. [PDF]
 Robert Rietty (1923-2015), UK voice and character actor
whose credits include Blood Beast from Outer Space (1965), The
Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973), Space: 1999 (1975-1976),
The Omen (1976) and various James Bond films, died on 3 April;
he was 92. [MMW]
 Jannick Storm (Finn Jannick Storm Jørgensen,
1939-2015), Danish author, critic, editor and translator (of Ballard,
Dick and others) who did much to establish the sf genre in Denmark, died
on 9 May aged 76. Three collections of his stories appeared; his 1970s
sf novel Hjerter er trumf [Hearts are Trumps], though
unpublished until 1995, became a major 1976 film. [J-HH]
 Doris Elaine Sauter, friend of Philip K. Dick who
co-edited What If Our World Is Their Heaven? The Final Conversations
of Philip K. Dick (2000), died on 25 May aged 63. Her memoir of Dick
remains unpublished. [GVG]
 John Stephenson (1923-2015), US voice actor whose genre
credits include Charlotte's Web (1973), The Hobbit
(1977) and many tv series (Flintstones, Galaxy High School,
Jetsons, Transformers, Scooby-Doo, Superman
etc), died on 15 May aged 91. [SFS]
 Nigel Terry (1945-2015), UK actor best known as King
Arthur in Excalibur (1981), died on 30 April aged 69. Other
genre credits include Feardotcom (2002) and Doctor Who
(2008). [MPJ]
 Norman Thaddeus Vane (1928-2015), US writer/director who
co-wrote Shadow of the Hawk (1976) and wrote and directed Frightmare
(1983), died on 2 May aged 86. His Exorcist-like horror novel is
The Exorcism of Angela Gray (1974). [PDF]
 Grace Lee Whitney (1930-2015), who played Yeoman Janice
Rand in the 1960s Star Trek and reappeared in Star Trek: The
Motion Picture (1979) and other film spinoffs, died on 1 May; she
was 85. [DKMK]

The
Weakest Link. 'This author described a Utopian republic in his
1966 novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.' Contestant:
'Who is H.P. Lovecraft?' (Jeopardy, 7 May) [BF/AIP]
 Dale Winton: 'Who created the characters Tweedledum and
Tweedledee? Was it J.R.R. Tolkien, Lewis Carroll or Dr Seuss?' Contestant:
'Well it's not Lewis Carroll. He wrote The Lion, The Witch And The
Wardrobe.' (BBC1, In It to Win It) [PE]

Court
Circular. Sherlock Holmes may be mostly in the public
domain, but the Doyle estate is suing Miramax over its coming film Mr
Holmes. This shows Holmes in later life, as in some late stories
where copyright is still a live issue. (Hollywood
Reporter, 22 May) [DKMK] Thus marginal matters, like Holmes
living in a lonely Sussex Downs farmhouse in sight of chalk cliffs, are
sternly invoked as 'protected elements'.

Outraged
Letters.Rog Peyton: 'So the news about K.J. Parker
being Tom Holt is finally out. When Tom did a signing at Andromeda
shortly after the second Parker book he let me into his secret but made
me swear not to reveal it. He signed all the stock we had of the Parker
books (as K.J. Parker) and when I listed them in the catalogue I stated
that she had popped into the shop as she had relatives in Birmingham. I
think I even said I'd learned that the K stood for Katherine. Yes, 'twas
I who started the "female" story – I can now own up to
my little fib. Sorry folks.'
 Triffid Alley. One comment on the unveiling of this
London plaque (see A333):
'... to be complete, they should have incorporated a blurb in braille.'
('Lord Blood', Twitter, 26 May) [BB]
 Lisa Tuttle felt this legend should read DANGER:
HEAVY PLANT CROSSING.

In
Typo Veritas. A Guardian article explained a
right-wing US blog title as homage to the revered Ayn Rand: 'Atlas
Shurgs.' (4 May) [MM]

Random
Fandom.File 770 has proudly adopted a new motto on
its website masthead: '"... the 770 blog, that wretched hive of
scum and villainy ..." – John C. Wright.' Another satisfied
customer! Mike Glyer is still running
daily roundups of
commentary on current Hugo ructions at
file770.com; rather him than me.
 Making Light (Public Enemy #2 in the Sad/Rabid Puppy
pantheon, after John Scalzi at #1) hosted much constructive discussion
of how the Hugo nominations process can be made more resistant to slate
voting – regardless of any slate's politics – and came up
with what has been nicknamed 'E Pluribus Hugo'. This, a truly remarkable
system which this Ansible is too small to contain, will be
proposed at the Sasquan WSFS Business Meeting. Read all about it at
nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/016262.html.

The
Dead Past.70 Years Ago, a familiar exhortation from a
forerunner of the BSFA: 'Whatever fan activity you wish to indulge in
the BFS will give you every aid in its power, but if you do not wish to
do anything then we cannot help you.' (British
Fantasy Society Bulletin 22, June 1945)
 50 Years Ago, an appeal to a familiar market segment:
'TAFF delegate Terry Carr is editing Doubleday's Science Fiction for
People who Hate Science Fiction.' (Skyrack
80, June 1965)
 30 Years Ago, a note on editorial policy: '"A Zine
is classed as a terror weapon. It rends and distorts, twisting the
structure of the target completely out of shape." (Philip E. High:
Come, Hunt An Earthman).' (Ansible
43, May/June 1985)
 20 Years Ago: 'The 8th Earl of Clancarty, famous for UFO
books under the byline Brinsley Le Poer Trench (his actual name, minus
an initial 'William Francis'), died in May aged 83. Perhaps his finest
hour was the 1979 House of Lords UFO debate, whose transcript in Hansard
sold out on the following day....' (Ansible
95, June 1995)

What
I Missed. Ursula K. Le Guin posted a follow-up to her
A333-cited
Bookviewcafe.com reproof of Kazuo Ishiguro, apologizing for 'my
evidently over-hasty response' (10
March). 'Many sites on the Internet were quick to pick up my blog
post, describing it as an "attack", a "slam", etc.
They were hot on the scent for blood, hoping for a feud. I wonder how
many will pick up this one?' Oops. Well, eventually....

Thog's
Masterclass.Out-of-Context Entendre. 'Dinah didn't
mention the other reason, which was that the biggest part of Sean's
package was so screamingly radioactive that it couldn't be allowed
anywhere near Izzy.' (Neal Stephenson, Seveneves, 2015) [JC]
 Dept of X-Ray Vision. 'Not for the first time, a cold
fist appeared deep within her stomach.' (Becky Chambers, The Long
Way to a Small, Angry Planet, 2014)
 Tone of Voice Dept. '"Just for one, Miss?" the
waitress asked in a long black-skirted uniform.' (Fiona McIntosh, The
Last Dance, 2015) [YR]
 Neat Tricks. '... having spent a sleepless night, filled
with uncomfortable dreams ...' (Priscilla Masters, Slipknot,
2007) [PB]
 Dept of Synaesthesia. 'I heard Learner then, a noise so
soft and invisible it wouldn't mean anything unless you knew what it
was.' (John Burnham Schwartz, Reservation Road, 1998) [PB]
 Feminist Sympathy Dept. 'Connie had a wry, compact
intelligence, a firm little clitoris of discernment and sensitivity ...'
(Jonathan Franzen, Freedom, 2010) [J]
 Dept of Extreme Etiquette. 'But one does not scream with
a beer barrel tap inserted deep into one's jugular vein ...' (Jack
Oleck, The Vault of Horror, 1973) [BA]

Origin
Story. David Given shares his researches into a Doctor Who
spinoff novel in which aliens are stranded on our planet: '"We
appeared halfway between Earth and Mars, and limped as close to Earth as
we dared." He was tapping keys, bringing up the inventory program. "Then
we sent the ship on a course for the sun and crammed ourselves into an
escape pod." / "Where did you land?" / "In the Welsh
countryside. We were lucky to come down over land. Hogan got married
nine years ago. He's living in Upper Norwood. Beilby died of the common
cold. And no one knows what happened to Langford."' (Kate Orman,
Return of the Living Dad, 1996)

Late-Breaking.Gemmell Awards (heroic fantasy) novel shortlist: Half a King
by Joe Abercrombie; Valour by John Gwynne; Prince of Fools
by Mark Lawrence; Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson; The
Broken Eye by Brent Weeks. For the other categories, see
www.gemmellawards.com.

The
Dead Past II.30 Years Ago (very nearly), the voice of
prophecy was heard in a TransAtlantic Fan Fund newsletter: 'What we
meant was that TAFF is an institution created for a specific purpose,
with its own agenda – promoting greater transatlantic amity
between fans – and should not be used as a mechanism for pursuing
unrelated issues; no more than, say, the Hugos should be used as an
exercise in block-voting by a group with an ideological axe to grind,
rather than in recognition of the single outstanding work nominated.'
(Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden,
TAFFluvia 2,
August 1985)